


It's a Quarter After One

by feelsandbooksandshit



Category: Original Work
Genre: Dialogue Heavy, F/F, No Plot/Plotless
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-24
Updated: 2020-04-24
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:28:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,200
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23726812
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/feelsandbooksandshit/pseuds/feelsandbooksandshit
Summary: [Seeing Mao's body floating in the water had felt so real. She found it hard to tell the difference between reality and dreams sometimes, since they were both so... disconnected from herself. She had to be sure that Mao was alright inthisworld.]Suzui makes a late night call.
Relationships: Mao Osaki/Suzui Komai
Kudos: 1





	It's a Quarter After One

Immediately after pressing the call button, Suzui tried to hang up before it even went through. It was strange to try and call Mao so late at night. It made no sense. Maybe Suzui was being selfish for trying to call her. Mao should be asleep. Hopefully she could hang up fast enough so it didn't show a missed call in the morning. Still, for some reason, she hesitated.

One short beat of the ringtone rang before she heard a voice on the line. "Hey!" Mao's voice sounded strained, as if she was gritting her teeth. Suzui didn't respond for a moment, confused and caught off guard. "...Suz? Are you there?" There was a shuffling noise.

Suzui gathered herself. "Apologies. I'm here."

"Oh! Awesome!" She could hear the smile in Mao's voice despite the still somewhat tight tone.

"...Are you alright?"

"What do you mean?"

"You sounded... in pain."

Mao laughed, "Oh, yeah, sorry! I ran to get my phone from the counter while taking off my gloves, which ended up being harder than I thought it would be! I kinda... fell."

"What?" Suzui sat up a bit in bed. "Are you hurt?"

"I'm totally fine! Thankfully I was far away from the equipment," There was a slight laugh of embarrassment.

Relaxing a little, Suzui asked, "...Why did you run, anyway?"

"I didn't want to miss your call!" She said it as if it was the most natural, obvious thing in the world. 

"How did you know it was me?"

"I heard your ringtone!"

"I have... my own ringtone?" Suzui asked.

"Of course," Mao said as Suzui hear shuffling. "Wait, I gotta clean up the rest of the lab real quick."

"Did I interrupt you?"

"I was running out of fuel anyway. I mean, it _is..._ " There was a pause before a huff, "One in the morning."

"Ah."

After a moment of silence, Mao asked, "So why the _mysterious call?"_

"I didn't mean to."

"Aw, shucks." It was a playful response.

Suzui huffed, which was as close to a laugh as she usually got. "I..." Conflicted, she tried to decide between actually explaining or just letting the subject go. "...Why were you in the lab so late anyway?"

"Just..." There was a barely noticeable sigh on the other side of the line. "Wanted to get through all of the tests before I left for the night. What about you?"

"Huh?"

"Why are _you_ up so late at night?"

"Oh." Suzui hesitated before saying, "I wasn't. I woke up."

Humming, Mao took a moment to respond. There was more shuffling on the line before she said, "That sucks, I'm sorry."

"I'm fine."

"Still," She sighed. "How'd you end up calling _me?"_

Without thinking, Suzui blatantly replied, "You're the first person I thought of."

The line was silent for a few seconds. Mao's smile was audible in her voice when finally responded, "Why?"

"I..." Suzui considered hanging up. That would probably make Mao upset though. "I don't know. I wanted to hear your voice."

She heard a content sigh before Mao's voice said, "...Well, here I am!" Mao laughed lightly, ending it with a small sign before continuing, "...Did you have a nightmare or something?"

"...I suppose so. Regardless, it doesn't matter. I shouldn't have called so late."

"I was already awake," Mao pointed out. "...You wanna talk about it?"

"...Not particularly." Realizing she could've hurt Mao's feelings, Suzui continued, "It wasn't that bad." She was lying. Seeing Mao's body floating in the water had felt so real. She found it hard to tell the difference between reality and dreams sometimes, since they were both so... disconnected from herself. She had to be sure that Mao was alright in _this_ world.

Mao hesitated before deciding to let it go. "...Okay."

"..."

"You know, I was, uh, just thinking about you before you called," She chuckled.

"...Really? Why?"

"Well I was listening to this health podcast and they were talking about these cool artificial organs that can just, like, merge with the body and work like a real body part. I was thinking, well, have you heard of The Ship of Theseus thought experiment?" Suzui noticed how passionate and loud Mao's voice was getting.

Taking Suzui's silence as an invitation to keep talking, Mao explained, "It's where, basically, as boards gradually start rotting in a ship, you replace them whenever you need to on and on for many years until, one day, every part was replaced. The question was, is this ship still the _original_ ship, or is it its own ship now?"

Suzui had heard of it once or twice, but she hadn't given it much thought. She didn't know how that applied to the conversation though. "And... why'd that make you think of me?"

"Oh! I wanted your opinion as an anatomist: If, one day, we have an artificial option for any and every body part, how many replacement organs would it take until it's not the same person anymore? The brain doesn't count though!"

"Well..." She took a moment to consider the question. "...Perhaps once the heart is replaced, that person is someone else."

"Why do you say that?"

Feeling ridiculous, Suzui replied, "I don't know, I'm sorry."

"No, don't apologize! I think that's really interesting! But I mean, we have heart replacements already. You think those people are different people?"

"They must be, right?"

"Hmm... I guess I never thought about it." Mao paused, considering the question. "I think we're _always_ us. Well, as long as we have the same brain, we're us. That's just my own thoughts though."

"Interesting."

There was a moment of comfortable silence. "Sorry, I got kinda side-tracked," Mao laughed.

"Don't worry about it."

Sighing, Mao continued, "I don't know, I just feel like I'm thinking of you a lot lately!"

"...Oh."

"Feels like I haven't seen you in forever. Field jobs are the worst," She was audibly pouting.

"You don't actually think that."

"Yeah, but still! I missed you."

"I... missed you too." Almost every moment that Mao was gone, travelling across the country to study the environment there, Suzui wished to see her again. Even when she got back in town today, she stayed holed up in the lab to finish what she'd started on her journey.

"I'll see you tomorrow, though, right? Well, today, I guess." Mao asked.

"Of course."

"I wish I could see you now," Suzui heard her chuckle before it sounded like she started shuffling, as if she was walking.

Conflicted, Suzui said, "...I wouldn't mind."

There was a pause on the line. "Really?"

"Mhm," Suzui hummed, despite the fact that she was already mentally scolding herself for suggesting it. As much as she wanted to see Mao, it wasn't exactly acceptable to invite someone over at 1:15 in the morning.

"You live by Haga's Shop, right?"

"...Yes."

"I can be there in 10 minutes, yeah?"

Surprised but not opposed to the idea, Suzui slowly replied, "...Alright."

"...Is that okay?"

"Of course it is."

"Great!" Mao sounded as if she was smiling. "See you then!"

Suzui nodded despite knowing Mao couldn't see her. "Goodbye." Hanging up the phone, she took a moment to stare at the ceiling. She sighed.


End file.
